ARIZONA: GOP Gov. Doug Ducey Revokes Ban On Adoption By Gay Couples

Just a week after Gov. Doug Ducey vigorously advocated for more adoptions regardless of the parents sexual preference, he found he had to overturn a state policy blocking gay adoptions. Ducey issued an order late Wednesday voiding a Department of Child Safety policy of refusing to certify legally married gay couples for adoption or permitting them to jointly be foster parents. A spokesman for the governor said he just learned about the policy earlier Wednesday. In a sharply worded statement, the governor said his administration is “unambiguously and unapologetically pro-adoption,” and the policy, instituted without his knowledge, is unacceptable. The governor’s move came two months after former agency head Charles Flanagan quietly reversed what had been the policy of allowing such adoptions since last October, when a federal judge struck down Arizona’s constitutional amendment defining marriage as solely between one man and one woman.